Stephen Yeargin

I have been spending most of my free time lately toiling away on a new theme for my Web site. It is a rather “inspired” work (read: you have seen variations of it before elsewhere), but I have the original PSD files to prove I actually designed it. Samantha is helping me with the textures and stock art for which she had a few credits left to use. I always hit a point in a design cycle where I am convinced that it is all going to come together rapidly or where I can see a final vision for the end product. I hit that last night, so now it is just a matter of applying the finishing touches and debugging cross-browser CSS issues.

Wednesday afternoon I received a jury duty summons. It seems like everyone I have ever talked to about it has tried at least once to get out of it. Most have stories about how their attempt either did not work, required a lot of effort or how they spent hours sitting around and were never actually empaneled. I am fairly content with the prospect, as it is another one of those things that the de facto “adults” do that I have managed to miss out on so far.

We are about to make the decision to cancel our cable television subscription. This is ultimately a product of us spending a great deal more time in front of the computer instead of the television more than it is a matter of cost. That said, cable is not worth the cost. My only reason to have it are for Comedy Central and Fox Sports Tennessee (Nashville Predators games). I can live without CNN, ESPN, and yes, even the Discovery Channel. My wife will likely miss Bravo and the Independent Film Channel, but she has a Netflix subscription that costs far less.

I am mainly looking forward to cutting out another bill. We have been blessed to work for two growing or at least well-positioned companies in these particularly tough times, but that does not mean we cannot trim back on a few things. I would much rather be able to meet up with friends from out of town more regularly than catch the next episode of The Daily Show. You cannot catch up with your friends on Hulu.

The days are longer now with the time change, but my body still wants to sleep in past seven every morning, eight or nine on weekends. The weather has not helped much, with cloudy days and sleet/snow mixtures falling over most of the region. I am looking forward to the cliche of “nice long walks in the park” when the weather turns warmer again.

Until then, we are heading out to the Belcourt to see Fanboys.